Jesse Jacobs Archives - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

Conventions | Vendors who paid the $60 deposit to exhibit at Cherry City Comic Con are clamoring for a refund after word circulated that the Salem, Oregon, convention won’t happen this spring as planned. (There appears to have been some discussion about the con being canceled on Facebook, but the convention’s Facebook page now states, “A marketing solutions company is helping us start the new year right and get us back on track to make this a successful show everyone can love.” No other posts appear on the page.) This isn’t the first round of controversy for the con: Last May, organizer Mike Martin called an exhibitor “batshit insane” on Facebook when she asked for a refund and expressed concern that the con would not be a “safe place for female cosplayers.” Martin is also the organizer of a craft fair that was canceled; some exhibitors for that event were denied refunds because of “a locked PayPal account.” [KOIN]

Continuing with our annual “Looking Forward, Looking Back,” we asked creators and other industry figures what they liked in 2014, what they’re looking forward to in 2015, and what projects they have planned for the coming year.

It is fair to say a newlywed couple experiences a honeymoon like no other, on myriad life-changing levels, in writer/artist Jesse Jacobs‘ new Koyama Press book Safari Honeymoon — and jungle madness is only the beginning of what transpires. Jacobs’ art belies any description that accurately conveys the complexity and intoxicating absurdity of his work.

In this interview, I gain insight into his creative approach, among other areas of interest.

We’re a little more than halfway through the year, which makes it the perfect time to pause and separate the truly exemplary comics from the merely mediocre.

Below are six of my favorite comics of the year thus far. Many of them will likely make their way into my final “best of 2014″ list come December, but I reserve the right to completely change my mind between now and then.

Wonder what Koyama Press has planned for the coming year? Well, wonder no more: The company has announced it will release four books in May and June, including titles by acclaimed cartoonists Michael DeForge (Lose, Very Casual) and Jesse Jacobs (By This You Shall Know Him).

DeForge’s A Body Beneath will collect material from issues 2-5 of his one-man anthology series Lose. Jacobs’ Safari Honeymoon follows a newly married couple as they venture into a mysterious forest filled with weird creatures.

Koyama Press will also publish Cat Person by Seo Kim, a collection of comics by the Adventure Time storyboard artist starring herself and her cat, and 100 Crushes, which compiles artist Elisha Lim‘s gay-themed comics.

Then, in November, the company will release Distance Mover by Patrick Kyle. about a man who owns a magical vehicle that can explore the world when not fending off the evil “Ooze.”

You can find more information about all of these books, including cost and ISBN number, as well as some preview pages, below.

Small-press comics publisher Koyama Press has announced four new titles for its spring list:

Cat Person, by Seo Kim: Kim, a storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time, started with a challenge to draw a cartoon a day and ended up with what looks like a winsome collection of cartoons about cats and everyday life.

A Body Beneath, by Michael DeForge: DeForge was nominated for an Eisner this year for his Lose #4; this is a collection of issues 2-5 of that anthology. I don’t think I can improve on this bit of catalog text: “He has crafted a phantasmagoria of stories that feature a spider-infested pet horse head, post-apocalyptic dogs dealing with existential angst, the romantic undertones of a hired hit, and more.”

Safari Honeymoon, by Jesse Jacobs: This seems to be the one graphic novel of the batch that has a single narrative arc; it’s the story of a newlywed couple who find love and horror on a honeymoon trip through the jungle.

100 Crushes, by Elisha Lim: A collection of new and previously published queer comics set in Toronto, Berlin, and Singapore, among other locales, and including “interviews, memoirs, and gossip from an international queer vanguard.”

In case you missed it in Comics A.M., there’s a great interview with Koyama Press publisher Annie Koyama at Sequential Highway.

Most people would settle for being a death-defying stock-market genius and leave it at that, but noooooo, not Annie Koyama. She had to go and form Koyama Press, creating a home for acclaimed cartoonists like Michael DeForge and Dustin Harbin, and racking up Joe Shuster Awards for Outstanding Comic Book Publisher and, via the comics duo Tin Can Forest, Outstanding Comic Book Cartoonist. Not one to rest on her laurels, Koyama has provided Robot 6 with an exclusive look at her very strong-seeming 2012 line-up. It features new books from Tin Can Forest, DeForge, and Harbin–including the children’s comic The Playground War, whose cover you’re getting a peek at above–as well as the Koyama Press debuts of Jesse Jacobs (Even the Giants) and Julia Wertz (The Fart Party).

The full press release and the covers for the new Jesse Jacobs and Tin Can Forest books are after the jump.